


Healing Touch

by Impala_Chick



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Curses, M/M, True Love's Kiss, Witch Curses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 17:43:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18015443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impala_Chick/pseuds/Impala_Chick
Summary: Dick’s wound gets worse as Easy makes their way out of Eindhoven. Doc tells him he must have been cursed by a witch, and Dick has to figure out what the witch was trying to tell him if he wants to heal.





	Healing Touch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TwoAxes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoAxes/gifts).



> Twoaxes, I saved this prompt when I saw it in your fandom_stocking even though I ran out of time to write it, because I loved it so much. HBO War Week's "Kiss" theme gave me the perfect excuse to write it!

Dick’s limp was significantly worse as Easy made their way out of Eindhoven. It hurt even more than it did when he first got hit by the shrapnel. The pain was shocking, considering his leg had barely bothering him earlier that day. He thought back to the walk through Eindhoven, and remembered all the orange flags and the women who tried to kiss him, and he realized he’d barely registered any pain in his leg at the time.

Throughout the rest of the day, he was careful to mask his pain by keeping his face neutral. But every time that foot touched the ground, it was like his whole leg was being roasted by hellfire. 

“Dick, I can tell you’re limping. Quit trying to hide it,” Lew said as he came up behind him. Dick craned his neck to look over his shoulder, careful to keep his weight on his good foot.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dick said as he forced a smile. Lew’s brow was furrowed as he glanced down at Dick’s leg. Dick immediately felt guilty for making him worry about him.

“Right. At least let Doc look at it,” Lew said as he placed his hand on Dick’s shoulder. Even through his jacket, Dick could feel the warmth of Lew’s fingers, and he inexplicably felt better. The burn in his leg died down, and he put more weight on it to find that the pain was minimal and completely tolerable. He inhaled deeply, relieved.

“Thanks, Lew. I will,” Dick said.

“I’ll hold you to it.” Lew smiled softly at him, and they regarded each other for a moment before Lew retracted his hand and walked away. Dick had long since given up on figuring out what Lew’s heated glances were supposed to mean, even though they seemed to happen more frequently. Or maybe it was just that Dick was paying closer attention, because he knew what he _wanted_ those looks to mean. Either way, Dick had already decided he wasn’t going to do anything to show his hand to Lew, at least not yet. There was a war on, after all.

As soon as Lew disappeared out of view behind a supply truck, Dick’s shin suddenly felt as if someone had kicked it. Pain shot up his leg, and he quickly shifted his weight and tried to muffle his groan. 

Dick suffered through the rest of the day as Easy made their way toward Nuenen, actively avoiding Lew so as not to worry him further.

Once Easy found a place to stop for the night, he waited until no one was watching and carefully pulled his pant leg up to reveal the wound. The strong stench of rotting flesh assailed his nose. He groaned at the sight of it, festered and bleeding through the bandage. He resisted the urge to itch it. He pulled his pant leg back down and made his way over to Doc Roe, who was making rounds and checking in on the men.

Doc looked up at him as he approached, his whole body tense as if he was ready to run to someone’s aid.

“Sir?”

“It’s just me, Doc. My leg seems to be getting worse,” Dick said. He propped his bad leg out in front of his body and gestured down at it.

“Let me see,” Doc said as he kneeled to have a look at Dick’s shin. He rolled up his pant leg and sucked in a breath as soon as he saw the wound, and that was probably a bad sign.

“When did it start festering like this?” Doc asked as he reached into his bag for something.

“It started hurting really badly today. It was like my leg was on fire. By the time I had a chance to look at it, it was like this.”

Doc paused, his hand still on Dick’s leg, and peered up at him with his lips pursed. 

“You said it wasn’t like this yesterday?”

Dick shook his head.

“About what time did this pain start up?” Doc asked carefully, his words slow and deliberate. Dick paused to think for a moment, his body wavering a bit as he continued to balance his weight on his one good leg.

“After Eindhoven. After we walked through the streets. Maybe it was all that walking?” Dick posited. 

Doc shook his head slightly, and then continued to re-bandage the wound, his shoulders tense and hunched over. Dick hissed from the pain when Doc pulled the bandage off, but otherwise kept as still as he could. Doc kept his eyes on the wound instead of looking up at Dick when he finished, and silently shoved his supplies bag into his bag. He didn’t offer any words of encouragement or instruction, like he normally did after assisting someone. 

“What is it?” Dick asked.

“You aren’t goin’ to like it, Sir,” Doc said as he sat back on his heels and looked up at Dick. 

“Try me,” Dick said. He pulled his rolled pant leg back down, and tried to shift his weight around to get more comfortable. The pain in his leg was searing now, almost worse than before. He squeezed his eyes shut, and felt tears prickling at the back of his eyelids. He tried to take even, normal-sounding breaths to dampen the pain, but it wasn’t working.

“There was a witch in that town. You’ve been cursed,” Doc said evenly. Dick huffed out a laugh, but when he looked down, Doc’s face was deadly serious. Dick straightened up, as pain throbbed through his whole body.

“So what should I do?” Dick asked, desperate enough by now to try anything.

“I’ve seen the likes of this before. She saw something in you, something she wanted you to do. You have to think about who you talked to in the town, and what has relieved the pain since,” Doc said as he stood up. Dick stared at him numbly. How in the hell could he break a curse if he didn’t understand why he’d been cursed in the first place.

“Sorry, Sir. That’s all I can do for now.” Doc glanced at Dick’s leg and then started to walk away.

“Wait, how did you know there was a witch there?” Dick asked, confused but also feeling hazy from the pain.

“I met her,” was all Doc said in answer. He kept walking, and Dick didn’t call him back. The pain was making him feel wobbly and he worried he might fall if he stayed upright much longer. He quickly limped towards the place where he had seen Lew setting up camp.

“Dick? What did Doc do to you? You look a helluva lot worse,” Lew said as he got up to help Lew sit down. As soon as Lew’s hands touched his arm, the pain receded. Dick could breathe properly again, and he could walk on his own. But he didn’t trust the feeling, and let Lew guide him down until he was sitting on a bedroll. As soon as Dick was seated, Lew pulled his hands away and the pain came crashing back as if he had gotten hit by a truck. He blinked back tears and groaned involuntarily from how overwhelming it was. One minute he felt fine, and the next, it was as if his leg was killing him. The only thing that had changed had been...

“Touch me again,” Dick breathed out. Lew was staring at him, his lips parted and his face creased with worry. He only hesitated for a moment before he sat down next to Dick and reached out. His fingers curled around Dick’s forearm, and Dick instantly felt better. He could still feel the pain, but there was just a dull ache in his leg, similar to the way it felt when he had woken up that morning.

“Huh.”

“What?” Lew blinked up at him, clearly confused. 

“I’ve been cursed,” Dick said bluntly, not even sure if he believed that himself. Lew narrowed his eyes at him, and then released his arm. The pain flared up hot and intense, but then Lew touched the back of his hand against Dick’s forehead and the pain subsided. It was definitely not a coincidence, then. It was Lew’s hand that was making the difference. And there wasn’t much that could explain that. Maybe Doc had been right.

“You don’t seem like you have a fever. Are you sure Doc checked you out?” Lew asked as he removed his hand.

Dick groaned from the sudden pain, and he reached out and grabbed Lew’s wrist. Lew flinched, but didn’t wrench away, and the pain immediately subsided again.

It seemed like Dick was well and truly fucked.

“Uh, Dick? You wanna let me in on what is going on?” 

“I’m not… I don’t think I can explain it,” Dick admitted. He couldn’t bare to look Lew in the eye, embarrassed by his inability to explain what was happening.

“It’s okay, you know. You don’t have to be afraid of me,” Lew said softly. “Hell, Dick. Maybe I feel the same way.” 

Dick looked over then, and caught the way Lew was staring at him, his eyes wide and his gaze tender. Dick’s heart stuttered in his chest, and then a wave of pleasure rolled through his body. It was like the sun had come out to warm his skin and heal his wound. Dick gasped involuntarily at the suddenness of it. 

After everything that had happened to Dick already, the feeling could not have been a coincidence. The witch was trying to tell him something, and it had to do with Lew. 

He looked down at where he had clasped Lew’s wrist, and watched as Lew slowly slid his hand up and slotted their fingers together. Dick dragged his eyes back up to Lew’s lips, and took a deep breath. 

He leaned over to press their lips together, and energy zipped through his body at the touch. His mind went blissfully blank and the only thing that mattered was the way Lew was kissing him. A soft breeze seemed to swirl around them, and he could feel cool air brush his cheek as Lew licked at his bottom lip. Dick reached up to put his fingers through Lew’s hair, and gasped at how good his body felt. He felt invincible, like he could never get sick again.

Lew pulled back slightly, gasping for breath, his lips wet and swollen from the kiss.

“Feeling better?” Lew asked with a smirk.

“I, uh. I think so, actually.” Dick reached down to pull up his pant leg. He carefully unwound the bandage, already pretty confident of what he would see. 

There was no trace of the wound at all. Not even a scar. He looked up to see Lew staring at it, clearly confused. It was dark out, but surely Lew could tell there wasn’t much evidence left that Dick had ever been wounded.

“That is a little weird,” Dick conceded. 

Lew raised his eyebrows. “Just a little?” 

“Like I said, there was a curse,” Dick said with a smile. 

“Right. And only true love’s kiss was going to cure you,” Lew joked, his eyes twinkling in the dark. 

“Let’s just be glad my body is so good at healing itself,” Dick said hastily, rather than having to admit how he felt. Lew was biting his bottom lip, and he squeezed Dick's hand. His body felt warm from Lew's touch, but not in a supernatural way. He leaned forward to kiss Lew again, and he felt Lew smile against his mouth. Dick savored the softness of Lew's lips, surprised at how easy it was for them to be so tender with each other.

Maybe Lew’s first guess hadn’t been so far off the mark. It looked like the witch was trying to nudge Dick in a certain direction after all. Her methods were crap, but Dick couldn't exactly argue with the results.


End file.
